The Music of Godzilla movies.
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:43 pmAny of the recently-departed Akira Ifukube's music tops my list. He was and still is the maestro of kaiju eiga. His scores for Godzilla, Varan, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, and Godzilla vs. Destroyer would be my favorites, but every score he did really was grand is noteworthy in itself.
I also feel that Masaru Sato's music for the series was underrated and well-done. His scores for Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Son of Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla absolutely nail the respective tones of each movie, and are just pure joys to listen to. His Godzilla Raids Again score ain't too shabby either.
Riichiro Manabe's score for Godzilla vs. Hedorah was hallucinatory and wacky. In other words, it was a perfect fit with the film, and would probably be a trip to listen to if one was hopped up on an unhealthy dosage of LSD. His music for Godzilla vs. Megalon lacked this fitting tripiness with the film, and therefore did not work as well. But like the film itself, it can be so bad that it's amusingly entertaining.
Reijiro Koroku's score for The Return of Godzilla is easily one of my favorite movie scores of all time. Powerful, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking. He really captured the very essence of Godzilla's spirit in the form of music.
I honestly feel that Koichi Sugiyama's score for the Godzilla vs. Biollante was bland and mediocre at best (not counting the excellent stock-written Akira Ifukube cues). Sugiyama's music really did seem like a detriment to that otherwise excellent film, as it is not only rather drab, but often feels out-of-place with the movie. I really wish Toho would have brought back Reijiro Koroku to score the music for this film, as the results would have been exponentially better.
Takayuki Hattori's two Godzilla series scores are certainly worthy of discussion. While I found his Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla score to be an overall pain (along with the movie), I think that his music for Godzilla 2000 is actually quite underrated. Only completely present in the original Japanese version of the film, I think Hattori actually did make some good music for the movie. Sadly, his music often felt out-of-place in the actual film, as though it were recorded completely independently and simply tacked on in the eleventh hour. The original music that J. Peter Robinson created for the American version of Godzilla 2000 certainly fit in with the actual scenes of the movie it was used for much more appropriately. Hattori's music was good, it just didn't fit with this film most of the time (Though that's not to say that all of his music felt out-of-place in the movie, as much of it was quite fitting).
Michiru Oshima is a very worthy composer in my opinion, and a fitting successor to Ifukube in both style and quality. Her work on the music Godzilla vs. Megaguirus allowed her to find her niche in style, and was very good overall, especially for a newcomer composer. It was certainly music that was too good for such a pitiful movie. I felt that she only got better over time, with her subsequent scores for Godzilla x Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS each being better than her previous work.
Koh Otani did a excellent job with the music for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, and even moreso with Gamera 2: Advent of Legion. His score for Gamera 3: Incomplete Struggle was nothing short of spectacular. So when it came time for him to score Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah, it should come as no surprise that he delivered a truly memorable music supplement on all fronts.
And finally, we come to the music done for Godzilla: Final Wars. This film features so many different original pieces from different composers, along with several stock music cues and remixes of classic themes. Overall, I think the music was good. Daisuke Yano's music was the best of the original-composed music in my opinion, with Nobuhiko Morino and Keith Emerson's original pieces also done well. The various different music pieces compliment each other nicely, and certainly fit the tone and style of the film well. The brief stock music cues from Akira Ifukube and Masaru Sato are used to good effect and provide delightful nostalgia. "We're All To Blame" by Sum41 is a good song, and it is also used appropriately in the film. While certainly not a great score along the lines of the works of Akira Ifukube, Reijiro Koroku, Koh Otani, or even Masaru Sato, the music of Godzilla: Final Wars is a nice breakaway score, an ample one-time treat, and a good overall listen.
